It's a big, beautiful world, isn't it? So many places to go, people to meet and photos to take. This project is about all that stuff...and more. You'll learn some great Photoshop and photography techniques, go to interesting places and meet wonderful people.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

The Best Magician in the World

If you fire a cannon anywhere in Vegas, two things are going to happen. First: casino security guys will be all over you in about three seconds. Second: you will hit about six hundred magicians.

Magic is everywhere here. I don't mean the "Route 66" variety of magic. I mean "guys who do tricks" magic. There are at least 7,524 of the 'Dance around the stage while you do an illusion and try to look just like David Copperfield' variety.

Yawn.

There are 2,647 "pick a card...any card" types.

Double yawn.

Then there's Mac King, who you can see most afternoons at Harrah's casino for about twenty-five bucks. (OR you can go to guest services, get a coupon that lets you in for $9.95 and includes a free drink.)

For the first time I lined up after a show with the rest of the audience to shake a performer's hand. (I hate doing this since I am not a groupie...and groupies do stuff like that..and...well...never mind.) I just wanted to tell him that I very much enjoyed his work.

"Hi," he said.

I nod and remember to smile.

"I really enjoyed your show. I've seen you a number of times. You have wonderful material. Wonderful presentation. Great show."

He smiles and shakes my hand. He says something which I don't hear since I am praying that I didn't just sound like some gushing magic dweeb.

"I'd really like to take your picture," I say.

"Sure. I'll do whatever you want," says King.

I am unable to come up with a witty comment so I raise the camera.

"Take off the lens cap first," he says.

Shit.

I wouldn't be tongue-tied meeting David Copperfield or the Pope. But here's a guy I genuinely respect, a guy who does what I do (comedy magic) and he is the best in the business. Plus he's just a nice guy. I got the picture and declined an offer to have my picture taken with him because that was just a little too groupie-like.

I first saw Mac King when I was just getting into magic. This would be around the early 1990's. I was twelve. (Ahem.) He was at one of the first magic conventions I ever attended in St. Louis and he was precisely in the middle of a long list of acts.

When he came on-stage dressed like a hick in a plaid suit, he had my attention. No black tuxedo? Nary a single sequin? No showy music! No dancing? Not a single appearing cane? No freaking rabbits? This guy oozed different.

And he was funny. Really, really funny. (Producing genuine laughter is a lot tougher than producing a rabbit. Trust me.)

I won't outline his show since I think that's not very cool to do. Suffice it to say that the yellow raincoat thingie is one of the ultimate classics of magic in my books...so is the hand shadow bit which has such a slam-bang surpise finish that the woman beside me spilled her mai tai all over her blouse.

If you find yourself in Vegas one day, avoid the over-priced shows. Take an afternoon to see Mac King, the official winner of the David Thiel Best Magician In The World Award.

On another topic, I heard recently from Sarah in PA. She wondered if this was still a Photoshop blog. As I re-read these past postings, I realize I have said very little about Photoshop, our website (http://www.photoshopbasics.com/) and only a little about photography.

Yup. It's still a Photoshop blog, Sarah. Every pic you see here has been Photoshopped. And I will get back to things like correcting over-exposed images and how to use Adjustment Layers to unmake major "whoops" moments behind the lens.

But I also find travel, the people and the places, seriously fascinating. That's why I blog about them...and I really like to get the details down while they are still fresh in my little mind. So bear with me for just a little while.

Photography captures a moment. We've all heard that. There's a frozen second in every picture. Travel is like that. You get just one second at a time -- and each one either becomes a concrete memory -- or it fades off into oblivion and is lost forever. Think of these little travel vignettes as pictures that flow from my mind to yours. (Okay. That sounds a little gross. Let me put it this way: writing is like a mental snapshot communicated from one human being to another. There. Much better.)

Or you could pop back in a few days when I am done with the whole Vegas trip and am back into Photoshop and Photography.

Just a small word of warning: at the end of this month, Sheree and I are going to Houston, San Antonio and New Orleans. (We're travelling for the first time with another couple.) It's the last trip of the year (also the last trip we can afford *sigh*) and I will very likely have a lot more to share after that.

But thank you for writing! It helps me to know I am not just talking to myself.

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Lighthouse

Color and Light make this picture REALLY pop

Music Harmonica Guy

A New Zealand Street musician. See information on "Creating Travel Portraits" to the left.

Brooklyn Bridge

How do you photograph something that has been photographed THOUSANDS of times? You take the picture and work in the Color Filter adjustments in Photoshop. You introduce some grain and shade along the bottom so the photo looks old -- and then you add a layer in Sepia with a very low opacity. And when you're done, you try hard not to say "Tuh DUM!"

Venice at Midnight

Took this one around midnight in Venice. The lighting was HORRIBLE. But using selective lighting techniques and adding some shading along the top and highlights to the hat really worked on this graphic. (Venice is kinda spooky late at night...)

My head...

Here's a partial desaturation (removal of MOST of the color) to create a mood and a feel for the graphic. Very effective and easy to do once you know where the "Important Stuff" is.

Still Rocking

Here's a rear view of two of the original members of the very long-lived rock group Nazareth taken backstage just before they did a show. These guys were in their 20's when they started and they are still playing together and there's still an obvious affection between them. The graphic would not have been as effective in color...nor would it have been as strong taken with their faces in view. I think the hands (positioned according to the Rule of Thirds in the crop) tell a wonderful story.

Special K

Here's a picture that was not so good until it was re-cropped to fit the Rule of Thirds and converted to black and white. It makes for a softer more powerful image.

Roxy Days

Here's a full view of the theater in Montana. It was taken on a bland day. The color was taken out and treated with a light brown filter. The rough time worn edges were created with onOne's Photo Frame Pro filter set.

Shotz

Having a cup of coffee in New Zealand and this bird came by in hopes of getting crumb from our carrot cake. The bird's in the upper left and the location in the lower right.

Taking Off

Just a second before taking off. The Rule of Thirds makes a great picture even more effective.

Alas Poor Ostrich

Here's an example of a blah image that was saved by the Rule of Thirds. Her face is in the upper right grid and the ostrich egg is in the lower left.

Agape

The lighting as well as the Rule of Thirds draw the eye along the visual line composition of the photo.

Leonardo

Here's a near perfect statue of Leonardo da Vinci. I changed the perspective on the statue so I was looking up at it. Sky was added in the background -- and the tape (created using an excellent plug in from Twisting Pixels) lightens the tone a little.

Lord Byron

Here's an image of a statue framed by dramatic church spires. The image was stronger when converted to black and white -- with a powerful corona backdrop.

I coulda had a V8

A garden statue that offered a stronger image from behind.

Window Lovers

It's a portion of a window display in Italy. The light hit it just right...the "shield" in the lower right hand corner is actually a plate. Very little Photoshop was required.

Sabine

In Florence, there are MANY statues. Here's one of them. It depicts the rape of the of a woman. How do you photograph such a dynamic statue? You photograph a PART of it, add a ragged border and put the faces into the dynamic points of the picture.

Music Guitar Guy

A street musician In New Zealand

Music Bass Fella

A street musician in New Zealand.

Elf Whispers

Here's a subject captured in context. The "idea" of the image is to show a Lord of the Rings tour guide and his intensity and committment to the material he is presenting. Here he's reading a segment from Tolkien's book.

Violinist

What things could this portrait tell you about THIS man? List five things. Can you think of how the photographer and Photoshop artist felt about him? A portait (see discussion to the left) is most interesting when you can learn about the subject AND the artist.

Elven Whispers II

Here's my wife listening to our guide read a favorite passage from Lord of the Rings. The expression on her face is soft. She's enjoying it. For this portait, I tried to convey some of that mysterious process that goes on when you read or hear a story. The image of Legolas (an image not taken by me) reduced to a detailed line drawing and then blended very gently into the background. I used the "Overlay" option on the blending menu. This graphic works for me because it says something about my subject, the context (what's going on) and the aritst.

Old Dog

This cabbie took us all around his little corner of New Zealand. This is a good example of a Travel Portrait. He's not posed for the picture at all. But there's good context here. Again. Look hard at the picture and see what kinds of impressions you may have of who he is...what kind of man he is.

Galadriel Whispers

Here's a famous bridge to Lord of the Rings fans. The challenge: to make it more than a snapshot of a bridge. When taking travel pictures...try to think of how you can illustrate how it FELT to be there. See the article to the left for a wee discussion on this.

Painted Playground

Turning pictures into "paintings" is tops among the way-cool-Photoshop-voodoo-stuff you can do. (Try saying that three times fast...)

You talking to ME?

This is one of my favorite images...as well as one of the easiest to do. This New York cop was patrolling the streets prior to the St. Pat's day parade. The flag was lost in the background until I desaturated everything except the flag. Now it fits the picture and runs in perfect lines with the cop's face. Creating a graphic that is MOSTLY B&W can be very strong.

Adventure

I don't remember where this was taken. Rome maybe? But the idea of the graphic is to try to convey that powerful sense of adventure you get when you travel. What's around the next corner? Who are you going to meet? The picture features a pastel color set and has been recreated on top of Sketchmaster layers twinned with some Virtual Painter5 layers. The doorway was selected -- and all the color poured into that area.

Patriot

The border to this pic was designed using OnOne's excellent PhotoFrame Pro 3. It's a great option for creating borders and frames since you can start with a template and tinker with it until you get exactly the effect you're after.

Trumpet!

Americans LOVE parades. As a Canadian it's fun to watch and great to photograph. How do you capture the excitement...the BRASS of a parade? Like this. In addition to some gentle cropping, the contrast of the photo was increased to bring out the colors of the trumpet more strongly.

Green Guy

This fella was at New York's St. Patrick's Day Parade. It's a good sample of taking a picture of an off center subject in their environment. The background blur was enhanced a little in Photoshop.

Split Personality? Nah

This is me. Half man...half graphic. There's a song in this somewhere. The left side of my face has been treated with Sketchmaster and Virtual Painter. The background was created with TEXTURES from the Photoshop menu, and further designed with Alien Skin's TEXTURES.

Nice Artist

That's "Nice" as in the city. This guy was selling his paintings at a Farmer's Market. I wondered what HIS world looked like. Here's a good example of SELECTIVE FOCUS. First, I "Selected" the artist and left his image alone. Then I added a "Pastel Painting" effect to the rest of his world. Art...artist...get it?

More Grain, Please!

This fellow was a cafe owner in Naples. I wanted the graphic to have a strong "gritty" feel. So I added grain and used Photoshop to accent the lines.

Inquiry

One of my all time favorite pictures of my all time favorite person. My wife. She's an avid photographer and a traveller. And this Hawaiian setting seemed to be the perfect backdrop for the way she looks out at the world. A soft border from OnOne was added to give the picture a gentler look.

Accents

Here's a statue face made into a graphic. The lines of his face were heavily accented, grain added, hues and saturations revised. I also used Layer Opacity (a FABULOUS Photoshop option) to blend the real picture as well as the created ones.